CES 2015 has officially kicked off with CEA's annual State of the Consumer Tech Industry and CES Trends hosted by CEA Chief Economist Shawn Dubravac. The one hour presentation set the stage for the technology which will be on display on the showroom floor starting this Tuesday.
Dubravac began by outlining the five key pillars he sees behind all consumer technology:
- Ubiquitous Computing
- Cheap Digital Storage
- Connectivity
- Proliferation of Digital Devices
- "Sensor"-ization of Tech
At CES in particular, Dubravac sees four major trends on the floor this year:
- Digitization of Our Physical Spaces
- Permeation of Logic
- Internet of Me
- Fragmented / Diversity of Innovation
"We are at the point where we are starting to digitize the places around us” Dubravac told the crowd pointing to connected urinals and a connected onesie, the Mimo Baby Monitor, as examples. Dubravac said that we have reached the point that we no longer need to ask if digitizing something is possible but rather need to ask how this tech could change the use-case. He also added that companies are now focusing on digitizing items that no longer require a significant marketshare which is creating a "Diversity of Innovation".
Drones, 4K TVs, smartwatches and VR are just some of the specific technologies Dubravac expects will shine at CES 2015. Drones in particular have seen significant growth this year with CEA estimating global revenue of these flying robots reaching $130 million, up 50%, for 2014, reaching reaching $1 billion by 2018. The smartwatch space has also exploded. CEA says that this category is taking up four times the floorspace compared to the previous year's show and estimate that 10.8 million smartwatches will ship this year. For virtual reality, Dubravac stated 2015 will be a defining year for this technology and that we should expect to see a number of VR devices from the likes of Samsung and Sony.
A big takeaway from Dubravac's presentation was five questions he asks to analyze the technology exhibited at the show this year: what to digitize next, how to provide connectivity, where to embed and deploy sensors and what is the use-case scenario.